Connect to a Windows Share

For the most part, connecting to a Windows share is simple. Just open Finder and look for the share you want in the sidebar, in the “Shared” section.

There’s a chance the Windows computer you want to connect to won’t be there. Installing Bonjour for Windows on your Windows machine might help, but isn’t necessary: you can connect to a network share directly. With the Finder open, click Go > Connect to Server in the menu bar.

Type smb:// followed by the name of the Windows computer to which you’d like to connect. If you’re not sure of the name (or want to change a Windows PC’s name to something friendlier), check out our guide on the subject. And, if connecting by name doesn’t work for some reason, you can find that computer’s IP address and use that instead.

You should be asked the specific folders to which you’d like to connect. Select one or more, and then click the “OK” button.

You may be asked for a username and password, after which your folder should open.

You can now browse the files on your Windows share from your Mac, and transfer files. There’s a little easter egg here, too: the icon for a Windows share is a CRT monitor with a blue screen of death.

Open Share at Boot

You can automate the process of opening shares at boot, assuming there’s a Windows share you pretty much always need access to. Just head to System Preferences > Users & Groups.

From now on, your Mac will attempt to open this share every time you log in. Note that, if you’re a laptop user, this could get annoying: your Mac will try to connect to the share even when you’re not connected to that network. It’s perfect for desktops users, though, assuming you don’t take your iMac to Starbucks on the regular.